25 March 2014: Irina Bokova, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General, Léna Ek, Swedish Minister of Environment, and Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), have signed an agreement creating the International Centre for Water Cooperation.

The Centre, a Category 2 UNESCO Centre, will help support UNESCO work under the Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP) programme, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), and the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), as well as cooperating with the International Shared Aquifer Management (ISARM) programme.

UNESCO Director-General Bokova highlighted Sweden’s support for the International Year of Water Cooperation, which took place in 2013, and stated that “In a world where 276 trans-boundary lakes and river basins cover nearly half the land surface and account for 60 percent of global freshwater flow — cooperation is not a matter of choice, it is an imperative.” [UNESCO Press Release]